EUROPEAN UNION (EU) President Ursula von der Leyen and UN head Antonio Guterres both urged Caribbean nations to unite in advocating for peace and for steps to take against climate change, speaking on February 19 at the Caricom 48th Regular Meeting of Heads of Government in Barbados.
Earlier outgoing Caricom chairman, Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell had vowed, "I am not going to live on Mars," as he urged a partnership for action against climate change. Saying the region has been used as a lab experiment, he said, "This is not a time to allow for might is right and for the powerful and wealthy to say they can take what they want, when they want, where they want or how they want."
Mitchell called for reparations for the transatlantic slave trade, promising to take up this issue with the EU head.
Incoming Caricom chairman, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, said to survive these difficult times, the region must be "more unified and bolder than ever.”
She said, “This meeting, my friends, cannot be business as usual.
"We thank you Ursula for coming to the Caribbean because in this world of grave difficulties confronting us at all levels, partnerships across the world will be important if we are going to survive the many challenges that are not unique to any one region, but indeed hold all of us in a very, very difficult position.”
Mottley said since the pandemic, the world has become an awful place "where effectively the world has said that might is right.”
Her other top concerns for Caricom nationals were freedom of movement, cost of living, crisis in education, criminal gun violence and Haiti.
Von der Leyen said the Caribbean and Europe were on different sides of an ocean, but on the same side of history.
On climate change, she recalled, "And we made history together with the Paris agreement and the Loss and Damage Fund. We have championed together a bold reform of the global financial architecture, to address the climate crisis, lift more people out of poverty, and end food insecurity."
On peace, Von der Leyen saluted Caricom's opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, you were the first regional bloc to stand with Ukraine, with Europe, and with international law."
"But also, because a lawless world, where might makes right, is just more dangerous for everyone."
She said Caricom has consistently urged a just peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and Haiti.
The EU head agreed with Mitchell that slavery was a crime against humanity.
She said three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this was now a more challenging world where the Caribbean and Europe needed each other more than ever.
With big countries competing for access to minerals, new technologies and global trade routes, smaller countries in Europe and the Caribbean now risked being cut off from global supply chains. "You have already faced situations when it was impossible for you to procure batteries or electric cars or vaccines."
Von der Leyen urged action against
